Growing up on Long Island, I spent many weekends on our boat on Long Island Sound. We would fish for Blue Fish, Fluke, Flounder and other salt water critters. Closing up the boat after a day out on the water always seemed to be such a monumental task, hosing the salt water off of everything. I always hated the gritty feeling between my fingers of salt water, but that feeling now brings back fond memories of countless hours on the water with my Dad.
I just returned from a trip to Florida to participate in a bridal show at the Hollywood Beach Marriott. We've always offered our services in South Florida having a home base in Boca Raton. With the kids getting older and my tolerance for long, cold winters shrinking, it's time to ramp up our presence in Florida to fill in our winter schedule.
While I was down there, I spent a few days with my buddy Daryn who is a wedding photographer down at Disney World. He spends a lot of his free time on the coast of Florida in Titusville, running his flats boat up and down the Indian River on the prowl for Red Fish. He's been trying to get me down their to fish since he moved down there two years ago, so this was my chance. We spent almost ten hours on the water in search of the elusive Red Fish with no luck. We did see one patrolling the flats in search of bait fish but had no luck catching it. I did however manage to catch a Sea Trout. I didn't do much casting with my arm still in a sling. We did however get pulled over by the Florida Wildlife Commission for going a little too fast in a Manatee zone.
I didn't see a Manatee but we were treated to Osprey diving for bait fish, an Alligator roaming the flats, more Dolphins than I could count a ton of Horse Show Crabs crawling on the sea floor. We pulled back in the marina at sunset, putting a perfect exclamation point to the end of a great day. I even enjoyed the gritty salt water feel between my fingers.
